EARLY SPECIALIZATION

When approaching early specialization, ideally I'd like to talk about young athletes and their choice to “specialize,” or play one sport all year round. Unfortunately, in many cases, the choice is made for them.  Either way it’s not a wise decision when done while they athlete is still in the earliest stages of athletic development. Athletes as young as 8 or 9 choose to play one sport that they have a passion for and want to learn to play it at an exceptional level. In many cases they fantasize playing this sport professionally later on in life. Of course, they have no clue of what it means beyond being on TV and making lots of money or what it actually takes to get there. It’s easy to excuse a prepubescent child from understanding the lengthy process of reaching athletic maturity and mastering skill perfection, two of the most critical requirements for playing any sport at the highest level. What about the parents and youth coaches that encourage early specialization? What’s their excuse?

Now I know that most children, regardless of athletic ability, fantasize during their early years of sports participation about playing professionally and for most it’s just a love for the game. Although, far too many are directed towards “early specialization" as a way to best prepare them for an opportunity to play D-1 or pro sports. I see so many young athletes at the ripe old athletic age of 12 taking that single sport road. Many experts agree this is not the road to take at this age.

There are a few sports that require athletes to master a sport specific skill at an early age. Figure skating, tennis and gymnastics are sports that require skill perfection at an age when athletes active in other sports are just beginning to specialize. To be competitive in these at the national and international levels, early specialization is a must. However it does come with a price tag of over use injuries from non-stop training involving repetitive movements and psychological burn-out from the stresses related to demanding competitions at a young age.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to play tennis and getting out skating on an outdoor rink or frozen pond on a 15 degree sunny Sunday afternoon in the middle of February up here in the north east is a great burn. I’m also a huge fan of gymnastics when it is used as a training component towards the total athletic development of a young athlete. I’m constantly encouraging parents to enroll their child in a tumbling class once a week for at least 6 – 9 months out of the year. Regardless of the sport of season, do take this road once a week and the benefits to the young athlete will be priceless.

While attending a conference on Early Specialization in Montclair, New Jersey in 2003 I had the opportunity to hear some interesting debate on the pros and cons of early specialization. The conference was held at the Yogi Berra Museum located on the Montclair State University campus. In attendance along with the Governor of N.J. were several other prominent individuals, and all had interesting takes on the subject. The person that I found most interesting was Dale Bera, son of MLB Hall of Famer Yogi. Dale told the story of how as a freshman in high school the baseball scouts were trying to convince him to play just baseball in HS and since he lived in NJ they (scouts) wanted him to do the Florida camps during the fall and winter. Dale was already a lock for the MLB draft and they did not want him risking injury. Dale played football in the fall and hockey in the winter and when he approached his dad and told him how much he loved to play the other sports, Yogi replied, "play 'em all son, play 'em all." Dale went on to explain at the conference how the other sports made him a better baseball player and helped him reach the professional level. Like father, like son, Yogi grew up a multi-sport athlete himself and only has nine World Series rings to show for it. Does a museum in your name count for anything?

During the early stages of physical growth the path of early specialization offers little in the overall athletic development process for an athlete at any sport. It’s very unfortunate for those young athletes that don't have a choice. In these cases the sport they are forced to play year round is more of a passion for a parent then it is for child. These are the youngsters who have the highest rate of burn out from youth sports. They are usually doing what they see as making someone else happy until the time comes when the athletes themselves can no longer deal with it. Nobody can understand why Johnny at the prime age of 18 would rather hang out with his friends than play his favorite (and only) sport that his dad has had him pegged for greatness since the young age of four.
 
As a Junior Athletes Training Specialist and long-time youth sports coach, I cross the path of families all the time that have an exceptional single sport athlete that is between 9 - 13 years old. It is usually the favorite sport of a parent, which I guess you could argue, at the same time is still better than no sport at all. Most parents feel they are doing what's best for their child. For the intentions of these parents are to prepare their child for a D-1 scholarship not realizing the consequences of psychological burn out and over-use injuries from repetitive movements without proper development of supporting movements and muscles. Issues that could be minimized or in most cases eliminated with the participation of multiple sports on a year round schedule from a young age. Multilateral athletic development is better attained from "playing' em all."
 
If you know someone who has a young child on the path of early specialization, please encourage him or her to consider having the athlete participate in at least one or two other sports. The local YMCA and most town recreation departments offer a variety of sports programs year round. They don’t have to excel at these other "secondary sports," just participate. Not only will it enhance their development and sports performance for their "specialized" sport, they just might find another passion, maybe one that is the athletes and the athletes alone.
 
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